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Jersey City school district wants city to pay for crossing guards

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A crossing guard in Jersey City in 2005. The school district, which started paying for some of the cost of crossing guards about three years ago, has told the city they will not longer pitch in.
(Photo by The Jersey Journal)

The Jersey City public-school district is asking the city to take over complete funding of crossing guards next year so the district can save about $2 million annually.

City officials say they are still negotiating with the school district over the request, which would require the city to make room in its own budget for the extra $2 million.

Assistant Business Administrator Bob Kakoleski told the City Council at its caucus yesterday that the Board of Education agreed three or four years ago to split the $4 million annual cost of paying the salaries and benefits of the city’s 194 crossing guards. The city had historically paid the entire cost.

But the school district, facing a budget shortfall, this year told the city it can’t afford to fund crossing guards beyond December 2013. The BOE last week approved a $660 million 2013-14 budget that doesn't include funding for crossing guards.

Councilwoman at large Viola Richardson asked Kakoleski whether the city can take any legal action regarding the BOE’s decision, but Kakoleski noted that crossing guards “by law have to be a function of the police department.”

So whether or not the district offers any funding, the city still has to provide crossing guards, he said.

Kakoleski and Chief of Staff Rosemary McFadden said last night the city continues to talk to school officials about funding for crossing guards.

A crossing guard earns about $10,000 a year, according to city payroll records, while health benefits actually exceed that amount, Kakoleski told the council.